Getting ready for Knox!

So it's January and we have everything we need to travel except for ONE SINGLE PIECE OF PAPER! The Travel Approval(TA) wait is the worse wait of all time! As we wait I am trying to make the best use of my time. Instead of refreshing my email 400x a day and researching ways to bribe someone at the CCCWA (China center for children welfare's & adoption) to move the process along I've decided to work on Knox's room and plan creative ways for packing for 2 1/2 weeks in China with one suitcase.

First lets look at the room. Honestly, I was a little sad to be painting over the pink walls. Our other two daughters are older so no more pink wall's in their room. As we started painting my excitment grew! this is my first boy's room! New chapter bring on the boy toys!

from pink to grey and green

crazy big sister is always jumping in front of the camera

  Josiah and I did the painting but called in the big guns (my mom & dad)for decorating and putting together massive Ikea cubbies and dressers.  Below are some of the highlights



Josiah giving moral support as my dad anchors the cubbies

Jaycee again showing off Knox's bed

Dad and I working on the dresser before midnight

  

after midnight!

My parents are rock stars by the way! While mom and I shut Ikea down my Dad and Josiah watched the girls. We finally got home around 9:30 then the work started. I think we finished at 1:00am which means they didn't get home till after 2am. My parents have helped me get all of my girls nursery ready so this was such a sweet time watching them get ready for their grandson.

Next post is all about packing for China! Who know's maybe our TA will be in!



The Concert of the year!

12-14-2104 BEST CONCERT EVER!

Josiah, Morgan & Chad singing Silent Night

 On 12/14/2015 my family hosted a fundraiser Christmas concert for Knox. It was amazing!  God has blessed my family with the incredible gift of music. From the first time Josiah and I discussed different fundraisers having a benefit concert was at the top of the list.




While I had no idea how to pull together a concert my aunt Johnna, aunt Mary and my sister and brother in law did. In 3 short weeks the event was organized, singers booked, and advertised all over the town. Honestly I can't believe we pulled it off in such short notice!


my sisters & my Mama

 The concert was amazing! The singers and musicians were amazing, the volunteers who helped with concessions and the reception were amazing. The night was a complete success.

getting ready backstage

My amazing family + my bestie

We raised $1,450 to go towards the adoption. Another amazing (I know too many amazings) thing that happened is the local paper ran a front page article about Knox, our family, and the concert! Josiah posted the article on FB and emailed it to his boss and guess what? With his boss and his companies vendors they matched the donations from the concert! This concert was to be our last fundraiser before we traveled. Even with the money from the concert we were still a little short from our goal but with a nice offering from my Mom's church, a donation from a friend, and a secret Norwex fundraiser my sister organized on the side(Norwex rocks) we have met our goal! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!2

Now we have our money it's time to get ready to travel!

 

The Wait is Almost Over!





After waiting 80 days our Letter Seeking Confirmation(LSC) has arrived. The LSC is the official referral from China saying that we can adopt Knox.

The signed LSC (Picture taken by Jaycee)



We are beyond excited to meet our son! Yesterday we received our 30 page China Travel guide and WOWZERS its intense to say the least. The beginning of the guide its super exciting reading about China and all the places we will go and the amazing things we will see. It has the website of the hotels we may be staying with a sample itinerary and packing guide,(whole other blog! they suggest only bringing 3 outfits! That's gonna be a problem for me!) Also included in this guide is the DO NOT DRINK ANY WATER IN CHINA information, the guide for what shots we will need, and the fun information that says to expect to get sick from some food and what medications we will need! No kidding here is a quote from the guide

"Bring every over-the-counter medication you think you might need: antihistamine, acetaminophen, melatonin (for jet lag), and a *large* bottle of Pepto-Bismol (not the cute travel size).
You may get sick - REAL SICK - with a food borne illness. Use Pepto-Bismol, not an Imodium product. Pepto-Bismol will slow the diarrhea and let the "bug" flow out. An Imodium product will trap the bug inside. Bring your favorite comfort foods. We brought instant oatmeal. ** This is a good reason to travel with your spouse and/or another adult. ** "

Even with the scary parts in this 30 page guide we are still stoked! It's the feeling that women have when they know its time to deliver their child. We know it will be painful, stressful, and we are even prepared for the diarrhea! We are so ready to meet our son for the 1st time that all of the uncomfortable stuff is worth it. I mean just look at this face!

The final thought I would like to leave with you is the cost of the adoption. Along with the guide we also received the estimated cost of travel. We are still in need of $7,000 before we can travel. Our travel date hasn't been scheduled yet but we are praying to travel in February 2015. If you would like to give a donation to help us bring Knox home to Texas you can go on our go fund me page
Foster Go Fund Me Account  We know that November and December are usually pretty expensive months with everyone getting ready for Christmas but we also know that in these months that some are also very generous. So if you want to help our little angel then please go on the site and give.

Ladies and Gentleman we have been matched!!!

On August 8th we received a profile to consider. I was with the girls at Hawaiian Falls when the email came in. At first I thought I should wait and look at the profile with Josiah but 30 seconds later I was downloading the profile onto my dropbox. As soon as that sweet lil face hit my screen I got chills, started laughing and tearing up at the same time. Then I decided I should wait until Josiah looked at the profile before showing the girls but then 3 minutes later I showed them!



I then felt really bad about leaving Josiah out so I called him and told him we had a profile to consider. Josiah quickly hung up the phone and checked out the pictures and medical records and called me back and said "Let's do it! I want a SON"!  That's right people we are adding a boy to this crazy girl family!

Meet our soon to be son Josiah "Knox" Foster

 

We will call him Knox.

He just turned 3 and is from Changsha in the Hunan Province

We could not be happier! Josiah is stoked to say the least. Jaycee is constantly saying that he is hers and is his boss since she is older. Lord help us!

 

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Proverbs 19:21

 

This text has been true in our lives over and over.  When we think we have a plan or a strategy God's plans are greater.  When we started this journey a little boy was not part of the equation.. at least in our minds, since we were adopting from China.  However, at least at this point in time, it appears to have always been in God's equation.

 

 

Waiting is a Beat Down!

Its been a while since our last update...well because there really hasn't been alot to say.  Waiting is not my favorite.  Summer has been gone by quickly.  We did get one  small fundraiser in with Josiah playing an impromptu acoustic concert at the golf course here in The Colony.  Had several friends and neighbors come to support us and rock out to some 90s tunes. 

We finally made an in person visit to the Gladney adoption center in Fort Worth for our two day pathways training and tour.  We were the only couple from Texas at the training.  The training was very helpful, even though Josiah was dreading it.  We both learned so much and met some great couples who are going through the same journey to adopt from China.  It was great date weekend as we enjoyed Sundance square in downtown Fort Worth...and some mambo taxis from taco diner!

 



We were hoping to have our new family member in Texas by Christmas but the matching and dossier process didn't go as fast as we thought it would so we used our saved vacation days to go on a big family vacation with my parents, grandmother, sisters, brother in laws and all the kids! We had an amazing time.

 

We also celebrated our 15 year anniversary while on vacation with a great dinner cruise on the bay at South Padre.

 

 

 

As of now our dossier is completed!  We are currently awaiting to be matched and will hopefully be getting a profile to view in the near future!

 

Cheesecakes, yard sales, and T-shirts!

We are up and running with our fundraiser's! We are speechless at the support we have gotten from our family, friends, teachers and our neighborhood. Our first fundraiser was T-shirts. We found a local T-shirt guy who designed and created our shirts. It has been so cool to see people at church, in the neighborhood, and at my daughter’s school wearing our shirts! We have brought in about $2100 from the shirts and general donations to our GOFUNDME Site. http://www.gofundme.com/6e8wrc

My nephew Caleb and my Mimi rocking their shirts

Next was CHEESECAKES!

This was actually a surprise fundraiser. One of my sweet, amazing, beautiful, smart, basketball super star babysitters invented “Cheesecakes for a Cause.” She picks a cause and sells delish NY or chocolate cheesecakes for $30. No joke I had no idea she was going to do this for us. One day I just went on Facebook and I check my notifications and there it was cheesecakes for a cause for the Foster family adoption. This girl has been baking up a storm and has already made about $500 for the adoption fund. 

  

Meet Rachel creator of "Cheesecakes for a Cause"

Yard sale!

MY sweet EMMA LOVE! She loves hitting up the Yard Sales with her Nana.




Keep in mind I am NOT a fan of doing yard/garage sales. It's not that I'm too good for yard sale shopping or that I don't like when my mom scores me awesome things from yard sales. I just really like sleeping in on Saturdays, I never have cash, I will never ask if someone will go down on a price, and I tend to get completely overwhelmed at all of the different items at a yard sale. Too many decisions! (I also hate buffets for the same reason) back to the yard sale... We moved 2 years ago so I had a major de-cluttering and donated a ton of stuff to the CCA. I did not have anything for a yard sale! So when my neighbor and sweet friend suggested having a yard sale to raise $ I said "no way!" They didn't take no for an answer and then got Josiah pressuring me so I finally gave in. Since we didn't have anything to sale we put the word out to our church, our bible study group and neighbors that we needed gently used (no old McDonald's toy's) yard sale stuff. We got what we asked for! The donations poured in. Good stuff too like Miss Me jeans, Vera Bradley, nice furniture, refrigerators, bikes, great toys and much much MUCH more. 

So much, my house looked like an episode of Hoarders!

After a long night of pricing all of our great stuff we were up bright and early to start the yard sale. We could not have pulled it off without help from our AMAZING friends and my mom the yard sale guru.

WE MADE OVER $1700.00 !!

(Funny story about the dog, Someone donated it to the sale. Jaycee would not let anyone close to it. People would ask about it and she would say “it’s not for sale”. Guess who bought it…Her Nana. Dogs name is now Bella Puddles Foster)

Even our pet bunny Ninja Helped Out!

We also have a go fund me site http://www.gofundme.com/6e8wrc where people who just feel generous give any amount they wish. No amount is too small. We are always humbled when people surprise us and give on the site and we love reading the comments.

Overall we have raised about $4200. We still have far to go but other fundraiser's in the works so of course I'll keep you posted.

The 411 on where we are on the adoption

Most of our paperwork/dossier has been sent to the Texas Secretary of State for authentication. Now our documents are at the Chinese Consulate in Houston being authenticated again. The final pieces of the puzzle will be the approved home study report and the CIS approval. The HS should be completed this week! We are just waiting for our FBI clearance. Once the HS is complete we can send off the CIS form (immigration paperwork). We are very close to getting matched with our daughter! I spoke with the case worker last week and she thinks we could be matched in a couple months and that it is VERY likely we will be traveling to pick her up in the fall!


Lord willing, This will be our Last EASTER as a family of only 5!!

All About the Benjamins

Cha Ching $$

2014 dodge grand caravan 21,071-$30,112

2014 Chevrolet Silverado  $26,552-48,565

Bass boat $20,000

Private school $16000 for 8th grade

Louis Vuitton purse $2,010

To adopt a little girl from China $30,000!

I think we are getting a good deal! 

Adoption is expensive. So far we have spent $7,810 and the bills will continue to come. Home study fees, Program fee, foreign facilitation/legal fee, translation fee, orphanage fee, travel fees and the list goes on. It's time for fundraisers!  I'm not that good at raising money. I'm really good at spending money, just ask Josiah.   I come from a long line of spenders. In fact while my Papa was in the hospital battling cancer he told my Mimi he knew all about the "leave the bags in the car until he left" move. My mom is a garage sale junkie and a clothes horse. I think my mom has 7 closets (In my moms defense 3 out of 7 closets are full of clothes from the 80's and 90's that she no longer wears but along with the shopping problem we share she is also a pack rat) .This is going to be a challenge. 

So far I have worked with a local t-shirt company to make adoption shirts to sell (see picture below). I only need to sell 2,977 shirts. I'm going to need a bigger fundraiser! So far the shirts have been really fun to sell. My girls have sold several to friends at school and to teachers. It has been so great for the girls to participate in bringing their sister home from China. I'm so grateful for the support.  Along with the shirts we have started an online fund from “GoFundMe” where people (you fellow readers) can send in funds. Here is the direct URL to our site:  

http://www.gofundme.com/6e8wrc  

No amount is too small. It gives the you the option of being anonymous or you can sign your name along with a note of encouragement.  We are currently researching and praying about the best options for raising the money.  As I sit here thinking of all my options I quickly get overwhelmed. I have to remember that God has turned our hearts toward adoption, toward China. He has started us on this journey He has called us. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together…Col 1:17. He knows our daughter’s name even though we don't. He knows the cost of adoption. He knows where and how the money will come. He will provide. He always has. Lord help me trust and lean on you and not on my own ability.

http://www.gofundme.com/6e8wrc